Chandler police: Suspect said he disposed of woman's body

by Laurie Merrill - Jun. 30, 2011 12:22 PMThe Arizona Republic

The man charged in the death of missing Chandler woman Jamie Laiaddee fatally shot her with a sawed-off shotgun and disposed of her body in such a way that police will never find her, witnesses told Chandler police.

A Chandler police report released about a week before homicide suspect Rick Valentini goes to trial on fraud charges reveals new details about the man who police said used Laiaddee's credit cards to fund five dating websites after she vanished. He faces another trial on a second-degree murder charge.

Valentini, who went by the name Bryan Stewart for nine years, had several aliases, three former wives and a troubling childhood in which he lived in his mother's garage before she placed him in foster care, according to the police report.

He also struck fear into the heart of his girlfriend of more than three years, Laiaddee, 32.

On March 17, 2010, the last day Laiaddee was seen alive, she told a lawyer friend that she was afraid of her boyfriend and that police wouldn't be able to help, the report says.

"I don't think they could protect me from him," she wrote in an e-mail, according to the police report.

Valentini, 42, who was born Ricky Wayne Schmidt, told at least two people he "blasted" Laiaddee with a sawed-off shotgun police found amid a small arsenal of weapons in a storage unit, and "disposed of her body in such a way the police will never find her," the report says.

A shovel, a pick, two axes and a bat were also in the facility.

He bragged he would never be charged with murder because of the lack of a body, the report says.

Valentini was wrong. In March, a grand jury indicted him on second degree murder and fraudulent schemes and artifices.

Previously, in June 2010, he had been indicted on three forgery and four weapons misconduct charges, and in July 2010 was hit with six more forgery counts connected to the use of an alias, police said.

The police report says Valentini had also served time in the military for stabbing a military police man after Valentini went AWOL (absent without leave).

One day after Laiaddee disappeared, Valentini began using her credit cards, police said. He made cash advances and purchases at Walmart, Home Depot, Sportsman's Guide and friendfinder.com, the police report says.

Laiaddee was the main earner in the household she shared with Valentini until she was laid off from her job in August 2009, the report says.

In describing problems in a message to a friend in October 2009, she said, "I was the breadwinner and Bryan (Stewart) was the trophy wife," the police report says.

The report says that Laiaddee was trying to become more involved in Valentini's hobbies, playing golf and becoming a "Tea Party" patriot instead of the moderate she had been. Valentini was also into Druidism.

The report describes how Laiaddee made purchases for Valentini, a former trainer at Gold's Gym, such as a $700 trip to California.

Laiaddee had landed a job before she disappeared, the report says. But Valentini told Laiaddee's friends she had moved to Colorado for a job, even though she left be hind two cars, two purses, her passport, cellphone, wallet and credit cards.

Police also established that she dropped off the electronic universe. A woman who used Facebook, texted friends, phoned contacts and used her credit cards stopped all activity after March 17, 2010.

"People like this don't just disappear," Chandler police Sgt. Joe Favazzo said. "In today's technological society, people just don't drop off the grid."

Valentini, meanwhile, was using her credit cards and driving her vehicles, one of which he had previously used to commit a burglary, the police report said.

As a young boy, Valentini had a high IQ but also had attention-deficit disorder and would only sleep four hours a night starting when he was 2, the report says. His mother kept him in the garage except for meals, on a counselor's advice, and when he was 16 she put him in foster care because "she could not handle him," the report says.

Laiaddee's body, meanwhile, has never been found.

The "Help Find Jamie Laiaddee" Facebook page has more than 1,000 members.

One of them, Ves Jordan Tardy Chilcutt, wrote: "I pray that he will come forward with information as to where Jamie is. Her family and we her friends need closure. I still pray that she is found OK."